Mystery surrounding ancient outback tourist attraction finally solved

By examining the ancient desert landscape, researchers are able to better understand how Australia will look in the future.

An aerial view of the Pinnacles with a car in the bottom left.
The Pinnacles stretch for 1,000km through the desert, north of Perth. Source: Matej Lipar

Mystery surrounding one of Australia’s most popular tourist attractions has come to an end. A group of geologists have calculated the age of ancient rocky pillars that stretch across the desert for 1,000km.

The discovery not only reveals how this eerie Western Australian landscape appeared thousands of years ago, it paints a picture of how the future may unfold. Analysis of the Pinnacles limestone belt by Curtin University revealed it was formed over 100,000 years ago, making it three times older than previously thought.

Although they resemble giant termite mounds or giant trees, the structures are actually rock. They formed underneath the soil at a time when the coastal landscape experienced huge deluges of rain. This extreme weather event washed away limestone bedrock, and at the same time the water caused these iron-rich Pinnacles to grow from the surface like stalagmites.

Related: Ancient discovery in outback provides clue to development of modern humans 🌏

The Pinnacles against a blue sky.
The Pinnacles are now believed to have been formed over 100,000 years ago. Source: Matej Lipar

The research has been published in the journal Science Advances. Its lead author Curtin University's Dr Matej Lipar told Yahoo News the desert landscape would have been overgrown with plants at the time, and the creation of the Pinnacles would have been invisible to the eye because it was happening underground.

“Then probably the migrating dune killed the vegetation, and then the soil was just blown away, exposing the Pinnacles,” he said.

By analysing helium contained in iron-rich nodules around the site, his team were able to accurately date the Pinnacles. The discovery helps scientists understand how the Earth’s geology responds to changes in weather, and will be important in creating computer models that predict how our future will look in the era of climate change.

“We can better model the future when we have more information about the past… This goes on to inform how people can adapt and what they can expect,” Lipar said.

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Historically, when landscapes change and become less habitable, humans have been forced to migrate. This occurred during the last ice age, and it’s set to happen again with the United Nations expecting around 1 billion people will be forced to move over the next 30 years due to climate change.

Left: Two Pinnacles at sunset. Right: Matej Lipar standing next to Ken McNamara and looking at one of the Pinnacles.
Matej Lipar (left) with study co-author Ken McNamara studying the Pinnacles in the field. Source: K McNamara/M Lipar

Study co-author Curtin University’s Associate Professor Milo Barham believes there are new hurdles that modern day humans will face that our ancestors did not — such as border controls and passports. And he expects there could be significant pressure on the world’s animals, because they’ve become trapped in small, wild spaces by urban sprawl, roads and cities.

“We’re already seeing pressure on humans, and obviously animal species need to migrate too, but we’ve fragmented their habitat so much that it may be more challenging for them,” he told Yahoo.

Related: Did you know there are silent extinctions occurring in Australia? 🦤

Studies of a dramatic climatic event in Greenland 55 million years ago found no significant extinctions despite extreme warming. It’s hypothesised this could be because of the connectivity of different land bridges, allowing them to escape.

“We're going to see we're going to need to enable better connectivity of our national parks and even wildlife corridors to facilitate movement, or we will see dramatic impacts in terms of the species collapses,” he warned.

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